Use basin feeder to keep bees off hummingbird feeder

The Cornell Lab of Ornithology at Cornell University recommends basin feeders. The design puts the sugar water out of reach of flying insects, but the hummingbirds can reach the water with their tongues.

Hummingbird enthusiast Lanny Chambers offers a couple of other suggestions on his Web site, Hummingbirds.net.

■ If your feeders have yellow parts, paint them red, because yellow attracts bees and wasps. Do it before you hang the feeders in the spring, so bees and wasps don't have a chance to discover it.

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■ Move the feeders a few feet or remove them for a day. Or make a weaker syrup concentration, with one part sugar and five parts water. It will probably continue to attract hummingbirds but not insects, he says.

The shelf: Book show

Update your kitchen on a shoestring budget with the ideas in Do It Yourself Kitchens (Wiley, $19.99 in softcover).

The book, from the editors of Better Homes and Gardens' Do It Yourself magazine, offers more than 20 kitchen makeovers on budgets ranging from less than $500 to $10,000. There are lots of tips, ideas and instructions for do-it-yourself projects, such as tiling a backsplash or creating a concrete countertop.

The book also has kitchen-planning information and guidance on buying appliances, cabinets and other kitchen elements.

Instead, you connect those components to a transmitter that sends video and audio signals wirelessly to the TV from as far as 131 feet. The signal can travel through walls, doors or other obstructions, so you can hide the components in a closet, cabinet or other out-of-the-way spot. Your remote controls can be used to operate the components.

The kit streams 1080p, 60-hertz video and 5.1-channel digital audio from devices including Blu-ray and DVD players; satellite, DVR or cable boxes; video game consoles; media services; VHS players; and computers. If you buy additional receivers, you can stream those signals simultaneously to as many as four TVs, monitors or projectors.

The kit is $388.98 and is available at Best Buy and at Amazon.com, Buy.com, Peerless-AV (Peerlessconsumer.com) and Markertek.com. For more information, go to Hdflow.com.